At the national-level general meeting to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on 1 July 2021, various democratic parties, federation of industry and commerce, and personages without party affiliation jointly delivered the warm congratulatory message to the 100th birthday of the CPC.
Mr Huang Yanpei was one of the outstanding representatives of the democratic parties who had stood shoulder to shoulder with the Communist Party of China through thick and thin. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party, the large-scale original drama "The Man of the Country" (Guo Shi) jointly produced by the Shanghai Theatre Academy and the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the China National Democratic Construction Association (STA) was staged at the STA Experimental Theatre.
"The Man of the Country” (Guo Shi) selects several episodes of Huang Yanpei's life from 1903 to 1949, and connects the stories with "Huang Yanpei's three departures from Shanghai", outlining the life course of this famous patriotic democrat and educator.
The director of the play is Dong Jian, vice dean of the STA College of Film. She also serves as the chair of the STA Branch of China Democratic Construction Association. She began the preliminary creation as early as three years ago, and carried out in-depth study of Huang Yanpei's life course. According to Ji Chen who is the producer of the play, the two playwrights of the play, Li Shitao, an associate professor in the Department of Dramatic Literature, and Lu Fang, an alumnus of STA, provided strong text support. Guo Jinxin, the stage designer/multimedia designer of the play, was the chief multimedia designer of the recent light show on the Huangpu River to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. Fan Congbo, the costume designer of the play, deeply studied history from the late Qing dynasty to the eve of the founding of new China, and his design has great artistic beauty while paying due attention to historical facts. The play starred three generations of old, middle-aged and young teachers of STA, whose performance was dignified and composed. Undergraduate students majoring in broadcasting and professional hosting (Year of 18, 19 and 20) and graduate students from the College of Film and the College of Creative Studies also participated in the performance.
The crew of the play integrated ideological and political education into drama and empowered drama with ideological and political education, so as to understand why the Chinese people, including the democratic personages, have chosen the Communist Party of China and, at the same time, make today’s young people better appreciate the patriotism and personality of the democratic personages.
